Prices just hit my threshold :-(

[saskdw]

Yes, these people who are complaining, who I'm also sure have been numerous times over the years, are all imagining those problems you list. I'm sure they are imagining a loss of their ROI.

I'm not going to debate the merits of the complaints, I'm just tired of hearing about it.

 

[Disneyliscious]

If you don't think it is a good value, don't go. If you do go, complaining here is not going to change anything.

This is incorrect. While its most efficient to email/call Disney directly to voice concerns, in our world of technology and social media, companies actually do look at comments on places such as these boards, twitter, facebook, instagram, etc to get a feel for public opinion. The owners of these boards, Im pretty sure, are Disney TA's. If Disney messes up it can affect their bottom line too and even they might voice these concerns to Disney. We're not in the days of a stamp on an envelope. Word gets around quickly, regardless of where its "said" now.

 

[ElizabethB]

We were just there in August. We used to spend 10 days at WDW. This time, we did two nights at Poly Club Level and then did 8 days at Universal.

We bought one day tickets to MK and spent one day at the pool. Our day at MK happened to be late night at MK. The place was jam-packed. I was appalled (yes, appalled) at the condition of the People Mover. Everything was filthy. I looked down and thought, "Gee, I might as well be on the NYC subway. This is totally dirty and unappealing." I recall my childhood when we would visit Disneyland. Every year, without fail, my parents would comment on how immaculate it was, remarking you could eat food that had fallen on the ground because the park was so clean. It's sure not like that anymore. MK was dirty and unkempt everywhere I looked.

We have had a miserable time with Magic Bands two years in a row. Mine only worked 1/3 of the time for our fast passes. As late night wore on, we were able to get on a few rides. The last 1/2 hour, between 1:30 am and 2:00 am was actually pleasant. We were unable to get fast passes for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train so stood in line for 50 minutes during evening magic hours. What a disappointment!!! The ride was over so quickly I didn't even recall anything about it. We went over and rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, which seems to be the same type of ride and it was three times as long. Seven Dwarfs Mine Train was just another disappointment among many.

After two days at Disney, we cabbed over to Universal. We bought our very reasonably priced annual passes, checked into Portofino Bay Hotel Club Level and began the rest of our vacation. We explored Daigon Alley and commented that nothing that creative has been done at Disney in many years. We totally enjoyed our Universal stay. We felt we received good value for our money. The dining is excellent there -- even at the theme park restaurants. We love the name brand restaurants like Emeril's, Tchoup Chop and Bice.

We can afford Disney, but it no longer offers enough pleasure and value for the price. So, we're not going to bother buying annual passes, multi-day hoppers, etc. (and this from someone who held a WDW annual pass yearly for over a decade.)

As we did this year, we may stop by and do one park for a day, but that's it. Disney hasn't invested enough to deserve our vacation dollars. The redo of Fantasyland was more hype than anything else. We've done Be Our Guest once and that was enough. The pleasures of lunch at the Castle were destroyed several years ago when they turned it into another theme park ride -- line 'em up, seat 'em, throw some food at 'em, run the princesses around the room, empty the room and repeat.

We used to love the Food & Wine Festival, but they are now reduced to doing special tickets events like the Burger Street Party. Good grief. Really? We enjoyed the Reserve Dinners from years ago where wonderful wines were brought by renown vintners. The events were really special then.

Yes, it appears WDW does not have to do anything in order to fill its parks and hotels. A whole new surge of wealth has occurred in numerous countries in the last few years (China, Russia, South Korea, India) and it seems that more and more guests are foreign. That's fine. They don't remember what Disney used to be like, so they seem happy to pay sky high prices for ever declining quality. Let 'em.

To sum it up, we were pretty much done before these price increases. We'll enjoy Universal and travel other places. We recently traveled to Milan and had a ball.

 

[the advocate]

Not sure what's in the air today, but all I've read on DIS is people complaining about everything.

If you can't afford it don't go.
If the food is terrible don't go.
If the service is terrible don't go.
If the buses are too slow don't go.
If Universal is cheaper go there.

Or just take your kids maybe 2 or 3 times during their adolescence instead of every year or two.

 

[bpadair32]

This is incorrect. While its most efficient to email/call Disney directly to voice concerns, in our world of technology and social media, companies actually do look at comments on places such as these boards, twitter, facebook, instagram, etc to get a feel for public opinion. The owners of these boards, Im pretty sure, are Disney TA's. If Disney messes up it can affect their bottom line too and even they might voice these concerns to Disney. We're not in the days of a stamp on an envelope. Word gets around quickly, regardless of where its "said" now.

My point wasn't that they weren't going to hear about. My point was that if you complain here, but still go spend your money at WDW, they don't care.

 

[Ambear]

FWIW, Disney's been getting more bad press than usual with this AP price increase. Lots of media outlets are reporting that a new pricing structure is "imminent." And I'm not just talking about Disney blogs. I study journalism, so I keep tabs on all the major plays, and many of them (from NBC News to TIME) have been covering the AP price increases as an indication of a new ticket pricing structure. The coverage has also not necessarily been in a favorable light generally speaking.

Truth. It was trending on facebook. Next to some news about some actress changing her hair color.

 

[eliza61]

Not sure what's in the air today, but all I've read on DIS is people complaining about everything.

If you can't afford it don't go.
If the food is terrible don't go.
If the service is terrible don't go.
If the buses are too slow don't go.
If Universal is cheaper go there.

We need a Whiners and Complainers section on DIS, where all whining and complaining gets put there. It's got to be real frustrating for newbies to come here looking for help planning a trip and they have to sift through all the complaining to find the important information.

Rant over...Flame suit on...

We actually do have that capability, the ignore function. a thread has too many complaints simply skip.

I mean the title of the thread itself gives an indication of what the thread will focus on.

Actually as a newbie I find the complaints very important.

Negative information was how I found out which resorts to avoid because the complaints were the same things I would have problems with.
Negative information was how I navigated how to tour to suit my family's style.
specifically it was the complaints about the Boardwalk villas that allowed me to request a specific section since I was technically a newbie to that resorts.

And I remember the first time I posted about how unspectacular Le Cellier was imo, I got so many folks who agreed I finally asked the question why hadn't anyone wrote reviews statingthose concerned.

The answer is what we see here, that this forum is not at all welcoming if you do not agree 100% with wdw. that the responses said that they don't even bother typing negative restaurant reviews. why bother.

 

[eliza61]

FWIW, Disney's been getting more bad press than usual with this AP price increase. Lots of media outlets are reporting that a new pricing structure is "imminent." And I'm not just talking about Disney blogs. I study journalism, so I keep tabs on all the major plays, and many of them (from NBC News to TIME) have been covering the AP price increases as an indication of a new ticket pricing structure. The coverage has also not necessarily been in a favorable light generally speaking.

They must hate Disney too.

 

[srferson]

Not sure what's in the air today, but all I've read on DIS is people complaining about everything.

If you can't afford it don't go.
If the food is terrible don't go.
If the service is terrible don't go.
If the buses are too slow don't go.
If Universal is cheaper go there.

We need a Whiners and Complainers section on DIS, where all whining and complaining gets put there. It's got to be real frustrating for newbies to come here looking for help planning a trip and they have to sift through all the complaining to find the important information.

Rant over...Flame suit on...

Interesting points. I'd like to add one.

If you don't like what you're reading on DisBoards, stop reading DisBoards.

(I mean honestly, what did you expect to find with a thread title that has a frowny face in it!?)

 

[JimmyV]

I still think tiered pricing is on its way. Soon.

Yep...

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...-first-time-in-60-years/ar-AAf5VZL?li=BBgzzfc

 

[PamNC]

here's my take - which is just that. MY take. I'm just a middle class gal - love Disney. BUT, I think the prices have become absolutely ridiculous. HS - totally outdated. Epcot Future World - outdated. So, for me, until they step up the game with attractions and FOOD (which is totally mediocre in my opinion and way overpriced), it's painful for me to say but I won't be going as much. I'll go, sure - but no longer will I be interested in yearly trips. Maybe every 2 years. At best.

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

And I quote "this thread is a good indication..."

This thread IS a good indication of how people are losing the perception of value in a Disney vacation.

I didn't say its the ONLY indication of that fact.

 

[CarolynU]

So, haven't read all the replies, lol seems like a storm brewing... so as a standard disclaimer let me say, these are my views and my views alone.

First, to answer someone from up thread. I am a hardworking, financially successful individual, retiring in my 50's individual. one of the ways I got to be financially secure is by getting the most bang for my buck.

Now while I do not feel like it's my right to have a luxury vacation, it is absolutely my right to GET MY MONEY WORTH when you charge me luxury prices.

I am also a dvc owner.

I too have pretty much reached my tipping point. To put it simply, the product Disney offers is no long worth the price they charge.
I don't give a rats patooie if they have shareholders (of which I am one), if they need XYZ profit margin or any thing else.

What I care about is when I fork over my money, do I get a valuable product in return.

lately that answer has been no.

I am not selling my dvc only because of the price increase, this is just the proverbial straw that broke the camels back.

Parks that are antiquated and boring. Seriously? HS anyone
food that is mediocre
dvc properties that have not been maintained well
systems that no longer reflect how we tour
Perks that don't appeal to me (photopass is of no value to me)
ridiculous price increases in the prices of the perks I do use. You increase the price of the TIW card by what 50%.

are just a few of the reasons why we will take our vacationing dollars elsewhere.

Will I never return to wdw? Most likely I will, but for now I cannot justify the cost. maybe once the new lands get up and running, I'll reconsider and I will probably do a spa trip now and again but for now I'll pass. I'm lucky, I've never ever brought into the theory that Disney is the only place on the planet where I can have a good, magical vacation

This pretty much sums me up. I have just renewed my AP because I fancied a quick trip next month to see the parks decorated for Christmas. Now I hear that next year there will be no more Osbourne Lights, so for me that's a big downer. I no longer make many ADR's because I can't stand trying to work out where I want to eat six months in advance and tie that in with FP+ which is a pain in the proverbial for me anyway. I will probably miss the parks, but I hate to say it but right now I'm a bit bored with them as there is nothing new, so I've already decided that although I will visit a few more times in 2016 as my pass is still valid in 2017 once the full effect of all these rises comes into being I will take a totally different vacation and want to tour Australia. It will cost a whole lot more than WDW but for me it will be worth it. When the new stuff arrives then I might return, but for a while I'm undecided and verging on the product not worth it!

 

[Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina]

Ive only been on these boards for a couple of weeks and I was shocked by how much Disney hate their is here. I was coming to try and get information and share experiences with other people that like Disney as much as I do... man did that not work out!

I just don't understand all of the hate and complaining. I mean seriously, like you said, if you don't like it, don't go. If you are going to go, you are "voting with your wallet" and all of your complaining is meaningless.

I don't hate Disney. I just don't see its value compared to their Orlando competition.

We most definitely voted with our wallet when we purchased Premier Universal Annual Passes. We haven't been to a Disney theme park (just their water parks) since 2009 (and there's been six more family vacations since that one). While I appreciate your passion for Disney as a company, not everyone else considers every corporate decision they make as sensible or good business.

 

[JimmyV]

This thread IS a good indication of how people are losing the perception of value in a Disney vacation.

Don't worry. You have this right. When some people don't like what they see here, they tend to dismiss it as the meaningless musings and rants of a non-representative sample, and that the "rest of the world" thinks differently. But the truth is, the people here are hard corp Disney fans. They want to believe in the best that Disney has to offer. They want to support everything Disney does. And they want to continue in their beliefs that WDW is the best of the best. So when this crowd has reached the boiling point, you can imagine that the "rest of the world" actually feels more strongly about these issues. They just don't come here to post about it. If someone who goes to WDW three times every year for 20 years is fed up, imagine what someone thinks who is not at all financially or emotionally invested in Disney. It only gets worse, and not better. Nothing could be less true than that this Board, (and others like it) are non-representative. When you anger your best customers, you can pretty much be assured that you angered everyone.

 

[tcherjen]

I must say I don't know if I will renew when it comes time. When it becomes cheaper for us to visit a different country, I gotta think where our adventure should take us.

Next will come FP+ for the different tiers

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Some people are more successful than others. Life isn't fair, but I am not going to feel bad about my success. Nothing was handed to me, I've worked my butt off to get where I am.

So how much is your FIL charging you for his DVC points that you're using on your upcoming vacation?
http://www.disboards.com/threads/mb-credit-card-question.3448216/

My family is going to be going to WDW in 1 month (yay!), and I have a quick question about the Magic Bands. I know that you can use them for charging things to your room, which leads to my question. We are staying in a Grand Villa and it is in my FIL's name and will have his CC on file since he is the DVC member. Is there a way that we can associate a different CC with my wife and I's Magic Bands for when we charge something, or can it just be my FIL's? It is not a big deal as we can just reimburse my FIL for what we charge, but it would be a lot more convenient if we could have separate cards.

It's easy to argue that Disney is a great value or totally worth the price if you're vacationing on someone else's dime.

 

[tcherjen]

Don't worry. You have this right. When some people don't like what they see here, they tend to dismiss it as the meaningless musings and rants of a non-representative sample, and that the "rest of the world" thinks differently. But the truth is, the people here are hard corp Disney fans. They want to believe in the best that Disney has to offer. They want to support everything Disney does. And they want to continue in their beliefs that WDW is the best of the best. So when this crowd has reached the boiling point, you can imagine that the "rest of the world" actually feels more strongly about these issues. They just don't come here to post about it. If someone who goes to WDW three times every year for 20 years is fed up, imagine what someone thinks who is not at all financially or emotionally invested in Disney. It only gets worse, and not better. Nothing could be less true than that this Board, (and others like it) are non-representative. When you anger your best customers, you can pretty much be assured that you angered everyone.

I could not agree with you more!!!

 

[bpadair32]

So how much is your FIL charging you for his DVC points that you're using on your upcoming vacation?
http://www.disboards.com/threads/mb-credit-card-question.3448216/



It's easy to argue that Disney is a great value if you're vacationing on someone else's dime.

Im paying for everything except the hotel room, which is still thousands of dollars. So not really on someone else's dime. I am also in the middle of purchasing my own DVC membership, so it will be my own dime from now on.

 

[klmall]

The annual pass changes and potential ticket structure changes just confirm my latest feeling about future trips to Disney; I'm much less likely to go now. And that's truly a shame since for my family Disney is one of the few places DH who has great difficulty traveling anywhere can go with us and enjoy some time with us. Few international and US destinations are as easy to tour for a handicapped person as Disney. But along with a very definite drop in food quality over the years, the increasing emphasis on 'Princess dining' which did our beloved Akershus in and the FP+ exclusivity of certain beloved attractions we won't be back for a long time, maybe never. We have grown to love Universal and we might go back in a couple years if we're visiting in Florida but no more expensive, less-satisfying WDW trips....for us.